This statement is designed to be presented on March 9, 2011, but you are welcome to modify the first lines and read it aloud or post it on your website on any day, because we need to support Reader’s Rights every day until we achieve Global Literacy.

LitWorld's Reading Decree

Today is World Read Aloud Day.

We are uniting our voices in cities and communities across the globe.

We celebrate the power of stories and words to change worlds.

We join our voices for quality literacy education for every child worldwide.

Today 774 million people cannot read or write. They are denied the joy and light of reading every day.

Education is a human right and a means to attaining other human rights that we declare to be universal.

Literacy education improves the health of children and families, spurs economic growth and advances equality.

For many children worldwide, quality education is the difference between life and death, between hope and despair and being able to make the most of one’s potential. This is our opportunity to give voice to the future.

By coming together and raising our voices on this day, we show the world’s children that we support their lives: that they have the right to read, to write and to share their stories to change the world.

Today I pledge my passion for quality education and my support for the cause of literacy. I encourage everyone to take part in this day and this cause.

As a representative of my community, I will continue to advocate for the causes most important to us and I encourage all of you to join me in the fight for our children and all children’s futures.

In observance of World Read Aloud Day, I invite you to take a moment to think about what you would miss most if you could not read or write.

It’s time for all of us to join the global literacy movement. Through our voices we can be free and be part of words changing worlds.